Career Tips - How to Deal With Religious Discrimination on the Job

As much as we would like to deny the fact that religious discrimination still occurs, even in the United States, it's something that does and it happens more times than you think in the workplace. There are other types of discrimination that seems to be more public like sex and age for example, but religious discrimination seems to take a more secretive role and most people may not even see it happening.

You have the right to your religious beliefs no matter where you are and this includes on the job. Here are a few pointers on how to identify the discrimination and how to handle it when you discover it.

First you need to be well knowledgeable about basic discrimination that happens on the job and even throughout the general public. Best thing to do is go to the Equal Opportunity Employment Rights website to get in depth descriptions of the various different laws against discrimination of all kinds.

After you have done this you need to sit down and see whether or not you feel that you have truly been wronged in some way because of the way you believe religiously or because of what religion you are associated with. Make sure to be honest and objective when you write down the things that happened that you feel are discriminatory actions. You will need this when you have to take the complaint to your human resources department or to a lawyer if you need one.

Make sure to pay close attention to see if your employer observes the various different religious holidays as stated under the provisions of the EEOC laws for on the job for certain holidays. Because it is the law that certain holidays have to be observed or at least have flexible scheduling to allow for them. You need to be able to bring any kind of discrepancies for this to the attention of the human resources or to an official at the EEOC.

Understand however; the U.S. Government does not hold any kind of jurisdiction over your own personal religion or practices, which means the use of your own property for religious reasons or the ability to be able to access accommodations for religious services. You will need to get a hold of an attorney who specializes in constitutional laws and any violations that might occur.

If you happen to work for a school or some sort of educational facility understand that these types of places absolutely cannot discriminate in any way because of religious beliefs. Make sure that you write down each and every instance when you feel there has been an injustice. You will need to have accurate documentation in order to file a law suit if it comes down to that.

Important Note: If there is any kind of religious discrimination that shows suspect of violence in any manner it is vitally important that you also contact your local police so that you can protect yourself and others around you.